Gato Audio PRD-3S Preamplifier and DAC
The Gato Audio PRD-3S is the high end component designed with flexibility in mind. It is not only just a just a very good sounding analogue preamplifier, it is also a D/A converter offering HD sound from your streaming source or from your PC and Mac. We made it easy to operate, beautiful to look at and most importantly; extremely musical til listen to.
Analogue section The analogue section of the PRD-3S offers both unbalanced and true balanced in- and outputs. The delicate analogue signals are gently embraced by a fully balanced FET based buffer stage, securing impedance adjustment and a super low noise level. All selections are done by highly specified small signal relays originated from the telecom industry – these are, due to small inductors and small footprint, the optimal solution for isolation noise and minimizing the signal path. The precise attenuator is likewise an analogue process, however digitally controlled by a micro-
processor. This clever design is far superior to the “old school” mechanical potentiometer solution often used. Our solution is physically placed exactly where it is needed for shortest possible signal path. It has no difference in channel levels and it will not wear over time and make “crunchy” noises. The fully balanced output stage is also FET based and offers low impedance and high bandwidth in both the balanced and the unbalanced connectors.
D/A Converter The built-in D/A converter offers real high end performance, enabled by the use of a dedicated power supply, a balanceddriven Burr-Brown PCM1794 D/A converter, an optimized high bandwidth I/V converter, and an analogue stage with low-Q, low pass filters. All digital inputs are upsampled to 24bit/192kHz. This D/A converter will upgrade any digital source such as wired or wireless streaming from your computer or CD drive - to a high end level of detail and musical performance.